


Fear

by Hestia



Series: Witcher headcanons and shorts [7]
Category: Wiedźmin | The Witcher - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Baby Witchers, Gen, Geralt is soft for Eskel, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mind Control, improper use of axii
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-01
Updated: 2020-06-01
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:54:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,405
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24490054
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hestia/pseuds/Hestia
Summary: Eskel is powerful with his Signs. So powerful he might take the entire keep down with him.(set when Geralt and Eskel are still baby Witchers in training)Part of a series but totally stand alone as usual.
Relationships: Eskel/Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia
Series: Witcher headcanons and shorts [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1769020
Comments: 17
Kudos: 165





	Fear

"Master Rennes! Master Vesemir!" The boy yells from the door he's thrown open carelessly.

"What are you doing boy!" Rennes barks at the scrawny kid.

"Apologies Masters", the boy says, breathless.

"What is it!"

"It's Eskel Sir. He's gone mad! He's going to burn the keep down!"

"Where the hell is he?" Vesemir shouts at the poor frightened teenager.

"Down the training yard Master! Please, Sir, we don't know what to do! Geralt's down there too!"

The two older Witchers set off, sprinting to the courtyard three levels below, following the boy. It takes only a few minutes to reach the yard but they can hear some of the kids yell even from the corridor. Most of them are watching from higher ground, from windows or the ramparts bordering the training yard. Vesemir can smell their fear and confusion even before he sees them. Three boys are closer to the action, right on the platform that overlooks the courtyard and are yelling in delight every time Eskel cast his Signs. Those three don’t smell like fear. One of them spots Rennes coming at them from the corridor at full speed and bolt down the stairs, disappearing around a corner. The other two are not so quick and the Witcher catches one by the arm and the other by the back of the neck before they have time to escape.

Down below Eskel sends an Aard towards Geralt powerful enough to take down the dummies right where Geralt was standing and part of the wall behind him. Luckily everyone at the top of the rampart has time to skater before the wall goes out from under them.

"Eskel it's me Geralt, stop!"

Eskel snarls and sends a wave of fire at Geralt, who has run under the little balcony at the top of the stairs. He barely manages to jump to one side, his arm reddening painfully when he's not quick enough to avoid all of the flames. Rennes throws himself and both the kids down when the flames come licking at the top of the platform, the air so hot they can barely breathe. Vesemir yanks both the kids back to the entrance of the corridor as fast as he can. Another Aard takes down half the stairs on the right side of the courtyard, they can even feel the shockwave from their hiding place. Nobody else but Geralt has the courage to come down and help calm Eskel.

"What is going on here?" Rennes asks in a tone that clearly means they both are going to get flogged very very soon if they test his patience.

"It wasn't us Master, we swear!

"It was Marcus' idea!" 

They both answer at the same time.

"What the hell did you do to that boy?" Rennes snarls, pointing vaguely towards the training ground right outside.

"We just wanted to have a bit of fun. We didn't think he would go mad like this, honest Sir!"

The boys look at each other for a second before casting their eyes downward, looking shamefully at their boots.

“Explain yourselves!”

"Eskel never gets into real trouble cause all the trainers like him even though he does lots of stupid stuff with Geralt all the time, so we just wanted to get them in a little bit of bother. That’s all. We can't really touch Geralt cause he's special or something. But not Eskel. And Marcus, he's pretty good with signs and stuff..."

"It was just for fun Master. To teach them a lesson cause they aren't great like everybody thinks they are! They're just orphans like the rest of us!"

Down on the courtyard, another dummy gets torn into splinters of woods and straw goes flying everywhere.

"For fuck sake Eskel! Stop, you muttonhead!" they hear Geralt yell.

"Out with it boy or I'll flog you myself!" Rennes snaps, baring his teeth dangerously at the teenagers.

"We didn't know he would go crazy! We wanted him to get frightened a little so we used Axii on him…"

"You did what?" Vesemir finally says, cold fury in his voice.

"Do you have any idea how dangerous it is to cast Axii on a person before you are ready?"

"We didn’t mean to do him harm, it was just for fun!"

"You broke one of the most fundamental rules of the school just to have a bit of fun? I should just throw you down there and let Eskel burn you alive!"

Their eyes go big, not knowing if Rennes would really do it. The leader of the Wolfs has never been soft on anybody.

Outside, Geralt is just running in circles, hoping Eskel will tire himself out before he has to hurt him. Geralt is not even sure if he can actually hurt Eskel at this point anyway. He has no real weapon apart for the few training swords scattered all around the yard and even so, he's not been able to approach Eskel at all. The bastard is too quick with his hands and he's been trying to either crush Geralt or burn him alive for a good five minutes now. Geralt's strategy so far has been yelling at Eskel to try to make him come out of his trance and in the meantime, keep him out of the castle where he can't hurt anybody but Geralt and himself. Not ideal but better than put everybody else at risk. Well except for the idiots looking at them from the walls but not actually helping in any way. They are on their own if some flames come licking at their stupid asses.

"Who cast the Sign?" Rennes asks coldly.

"Marcus went first cause he's good with them. But it wasn't working really so I… I did too Master. We just wanted to frighten him a little. Make him see stuff that isn’t there. Like a big kikimora or something. It would have been funny to make him fight nothing."

"There's nothing funny about making a man go mad lad. Casting an uncontrolled Axii on someone is dangerous enough, you could break his mind with two at the same time! Never do that again!"

While Rennes is scolding the two stupid boys, Vesemir risks throwing a quick look outside, trying to spot both his trainees. Geralt is a few meters from the platform, Eskel, maybe eight meters away.

"Come on buddy there's no treat here! You're just imagining things Eskel, it's not real. It’s just me", Geralt tells him softly, trying to avoid stones flying his way. Eskel apparently has learned how to direct things with his Aard Sign, already with impressive force and accuracy for his age. Geralt manages to grab half a training dummy and raise it in front of him as a shield. He's obviously too exhausted to cast Quen. Signs take out a lot of energies and he hasn't even mastered this one yet.

"Alright, now you're starting to piss me off Eskel!" Geralt growls, blood flowing from a cut right above his eye where a stone has nicked him before he could raise the dummy up. He braces himself and throws the dummy at Eskel with all his force. Eskel doesn't react quickly enough and takes the dummy square on the chest, tumbling down from the force of the trow. Geralt has barely the time to take a few mouthfuls of air before Eskel is up again.

"Come on man stay down!"

Vesemir sees the rage in Eskel’s eyes, glazed over with the Axii Signs. He sees the boy bend both his hands to cast Igni and he knows this time Eskel will burn Geralt alive if he doesn't intervene. Vesemir runs immediately towards the boy and leaps off the little platform to land in front of Geralt, right before the flames can reach him. Vesemir raises his Quen shield in an instant, protecting them both from the inferno raging around them. Eskel shouldn't even be able to cast Signs with both his hands at the same time yet, even less so produce two Igni with such force, he's too young for that. But somehow he can and Vesemir's shield is barely powerful enough to protect both of them as the flames engulf most of the courtyard. In another situation, Vesemir would marvel at the power displayed by the boy right now. Geralt can feel the heat of the flames through the protective golden aura and instinctively crouches low behind Vesemir to protect himself. It only takes a few seconds but to them, it feels like an eternity.

“Can you take him?” Vesemir yells, barely audible above the roar of the flames surrounding them.

“I think so. Yes… yes I can”, Geralt answers breathless but confident.

“Get ready then” Geralt moves next to the older Witcher, feet braced against the ground, waiting.

As soon as the flames receides, Vesemir drops his shield and Geralt bolts straight ahead. Eskel is slightly lightheaded from all the energy he just expelled and Geralt uses the opportunity and tackles his friend at full speed, toppling them both over.

Before Eskel has time to react, Geralt straddles him, trapping his legs with his thighs to avoid being kicked off and laces their fingers together on each side of Eskel's head to stop him from casting another Sign and keep him down.

"Eskel look at me! It's Geralt! I'm your best friend, I won't hurt you!"

Eskel snarls and tries to throw him off with his hips but Geralt holds on, putting as much weight on Eskel as he can.

"Come on man you know me! You know my voice, you know how I feel! Concentrate on me!"

Eskel calms down a fraction, eyes huge and panicked. He feels trapped and scared out of his mind but there's a flicker of recognition there.

"Ger… Geralt the monsters! They're everywhere!" he whispers frantically.

"It's okay Esk, I’ve got you. You have to calm down. Everything is alright I promise. Let me take care of you, no more Signs", Geralt replies, squeezing Eskel’s fingers to reassure him. Because of Geralt's position above him, their hips, bellies and arms are flushed together. Eskel can feel the hit radiating from Geralt and he just has to raise his head a little and push his nose against Geralt's throat and breath in. Geralt smells tired and scared but he feels honest too. If Eskel searches deeper he can still find Geralt's usual smell deep under the rest and it's enough for him to calm down and come back to himself a little.

"Sleep," Vesemir says right next to them and Eskel's head falls back on the ground, eyes closed, face relaxed.

"No! Why did you do that! I had him, he was coming back to me! You didn’t have to Axii him again!" Geralt yells at Vesemir.

"I couldn't risk it Geralt. He could have turned again and killed you. Minds under an uncontrolled Axiis are unpredictable."

“So your solution is to do it to him again? Two times wasn’t enough for you?” Geralt snarls at the older man.

“I know what I’m doing Geralt,” Vesemir answers patiently, not coming too close just in case. 

He knows Geralt is not mad at him, he’s just scared and very protective of Eskel. Everybody knows how much they care for each other. Even a blind mind would have noticed. It was dangerous but by the time the trainers had realised how close they really were, they missed their chance to separate them, the boys being already too old. There had been some debate among the older witchers and trainers to still try, even if the boys would go kicking and screaming. But Geralt had been chosen for additional mutations and Vesemir had argued he would have a better chance to live without the additional stress of losing his connection to Eskel. It was a gamble but it convinced enough people to keep them together. Vesemir knew he made the right choice the first time he heard Geralt crying and screaming for Eskel from even two levels above the deep trial room. The mages hadn’t been happy when Vesemir had shoved Eskel into the room that night, trainees weren’t supposed to witness the process. But the new mutations had been even more brutal than usual on the poor boy’s body and Eskel had been his lifeline, tightly grasping Geralt’s hand in his and whispering words of encouragement all night and day. 

"Is he going to be okay?" Geralt asks quietly, looking at Eskel again, eyes heavy with concerns. He had let go of his hands but he was still straddling his friend, not wanting to move before he was sure it was over.

"He's tenacious and determined. And he has strong connections to his friends.. to you. I'm sure he’ll find his way back to us after a good rest."

"Will they be punished for what they did to him? It’s not right." Geralt asks softly, gently sweeping away some hair from Eskel's face, still not taking his eyes off him.

"Yes. Very severely. Trainees should never cast Axii on each other before they mastered it. And even then Signs should only be used in case of emergencies on a brother. They won't forget that lesson again. I promise."

"Good."

"Now, get up. I need to bring him to the infirmary."

"I’ve got him", Geralt says, moving to Eskel's side and delicately taking him in his arms.

"You're hurt boy, let me take him."

"No. I told him I would take care of him. I don't break my promises to Eskel." Geralt gets up, his left arm shaking a little, painful from the burn. But Vesemir knows there's no use arguing or interfering between those two. Geralt will never let go of Eskel without a fight.

Geralt takes the stairs up to the little platform and growls at the two boys when he enters the corridor and walks quickly toward the infirmary without another word.

Rennes stops Vesemir before he can follow them.

"How long has this one been training his Igni?"

"A little over seven months."

"Have the mages look at him when he wakes up. Something tells me he's been holding back, I've never seen a trainee use Signs as he does. He's remarkably powerful already when he let go. Maybe Geralt is not the only special one after all."

“As you wish Rennes,” Vesemir says, walking after his boys.

**Author's Note:**

> Can you tell Eskel is my favourite yet? ^^
> 
> If you enjoyed this, the next part is a companion to this one :)


End file.
